1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device, a method of controlling an image forming device and a computer program product for controlling an image forming device.
2. Description of Related Art
As the scale of computer networks becomes larger, a type of network system is becoming popular in which multiple image forming devices such as printers and digital copying machines (descriptions of the invention will be made hereinafter using a printer as an example) are interconnected with each other through the network. In such a network system, a technology is known in which a portion of or all of the print jobs assigned to a printer are transferred to other printers. For example, a printer that receives a print job may transfer a portion of the print job to another printer to be printed by the latter on behalf of the former. As a result, the time required for completing the printing job can be shortened. Another example is where a printer that cannot produce color prints receives a job in which color image and monochromatic image pages are mixed, the printer separates color image pages from the rest of the job and sends those color pages to a printer that can produce color prints. Yet another example is where a printer runs out of a certain consumable item and consequently transfers a job to another printer so that the printing can be continued without interruption.
In the Publications of Unexamined Japanese Patent Applications Nos. H10-333845 and H10-319795, a technology is disclosed where the information of the location of a piece of equipment, which is the transfer destination of a print job as it is a device suited for the execution of the print job, is provided to a device such as a computer that ordered the print job, and the information is displayed with a map showing the location.
However, the technology disclosed by said publications has a shortcoming that it is necessary for the user to memorize or write down the location of the transfer destination so that the user can go to the transfer destination to pick up the printed pages. Also,if the system only notifies the computer that requested the print about the transfer location, the user may have difficulty finding the transfer destination as the printer may automatically separate the print and divert a portion of the print job to another printer after the user left the computer to pick up the print at the originally specified printer.
Moreover, if a print job is divided and another printer is printing a portion of the print job, it is difficult for the user to determine immediately which pages are transferred. In such a case, the user has to confirm the page locations of the transferred pages by checking the serial number of each page printed on the page. Finding the page locations of the transferred pages will be even more difficult if the serial numbers are not printed. Since it is so difficult to confirm the page locations of the transferred pages, the user may end up stacking up the printed pages in a wrong order.